More than one year after the end of the armed conflict in
Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the signing of the
Basic Agreement on Eastern Slavonia and the Dayton Peace
Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, daily life seems to
be gradually normalizing even in those regions of the
former Yugoslavia that were most affected by the war and
the policy of "ethnic cleansing". On
21 June 1996, the United Nations Transitional
Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western
Sirmium (UNTAES) announced that the demilitarization of
this region was successfully completed. On
23 August 1996, the Agreement on the
Normalization of Relations between the Republic of
Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was
signed, and on 14 September 1996, elections were
held in Bosnia and Herzegovina which were considered fair
and free by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE). On 1 October 1996 the United Nations
Security Council, by resolution 1074 (1996), lifted the
economic sanctions against the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and the Republika Srpska. The economic
reconstruction of the region is now under way, and the
international community is slowly preparing to withdraw
from the region.

At the same time, the full truth about the horrible
crimes against humanity committed between 1991 and 1995
can no longer be concealed. It is still difficult to
believe that, exactly 50 years after the Nazi holocaust,
another genocide could occur in Europe as a result of a
similar ideology based on nationalism, racial and
religious hatred and the obsession of creating
"ethnically pure" States. While the
international community was watching without taking
proper action, the systematic policy of "ethnic
cleansing" operations, planned and carried out by
nationalistic politicians, military and paramilitary
groups as well as civilians who were themselves victims
of racist propaganda, resulted in the mass exodus of more
than 2 million refugees and internally displaced persons,
in the death of more than 200,000 human beings, in the
economic destruction of vast areas of the region, and in
the most horrendous acts of torture, systematic rape and
similar expressions of barbarity. The great majority of
the victims of the second European genocide of the
twentieth century were civilians of Muslim origin.

If one compares this with the 25,000 persons who are
still missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the
phenomenon of disappearances seems to be of minor
importance. If, however, one views this figure in the
context of the some 50,000 cases of disappearances in
more than 60 countries in different parts of the world
which the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances has registered since 1980, it
appears that, at the present time, the number of cases of
missing persons registered and unclarified in the former
Yugoslavia is among the highest in the world.

Moreover, the experience with disappearances in other
countries shows that a solution to the problem of missing
persons is a major precondition for reconciliation and a
lasting peace based on justice. We cannot change the
facts which occurred in the past. However, the families
of the missing persons have the legitimate right to know
the truth and to get their loved ones back, alive or
dead. They also have a right to compensation, and to
provide their deceased relatives with a decent burial.
Finally, they have the right to demand that those who are
primarily responsible for the disappearance, torture or
arbitrary execution of their loved ones are brought to
justice.

There is no doubt that those who started to incite racial
and religious hatred and those who waged the war and
carried out the "ethnic cleansing" operations
bear the main responsibility for all the suffering that
followed. But among the civilian population, and in
particular among the families of the missing persons,
there is a strong tendency to blame the international
community, above all their fellow Europeans, for not
having protected them. At a time of universal consensus
that the international protection of human beings against
gross and systematic violations of their basic human
rights is no longer considered as interference with the
sovereignty and internal affairs of "the
State", we also have to recognize the legal, moral
and political responsibility of the international
community, above all the powerful States in the region,
to prevent acts of genocide and to protect the population
against other gross and systematic violations of human
rights. Notwithstanding the many well-intended actions
taken, we must admit that the international community -
above all the Europeans - did not live up to its
responsibility towards the people of the former
Yugoslavia. Since the past cannot be changed, in the
present all efforts should be made to relieve the
suffering of those who survived the genocide. To assist
the families of missing persons in their desperate search
for the truth is a small contribution which the
international community, if the political will existed,
could easily provide. The Dayton Peace Agreement and
other relevant sources of international law provide a
sufficient legal framework to act. We only need the
political will, and the necessary financial resources to
implement it.

The present report, which is the third report on the
special process dealing with missing persons in the
former Yugoslavia, (1) covers the expert's activities
during the period under review and analyses the situation
of missing persons and the phenomenon of disappearances
in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the past
year the expert concentrated his efforts primarily on the
situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This decision was
based on several factors. First, the continuing
non-cooperative attitude of the Government of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia was a serious obstacle to his
efforts to clarify the fate of the missing persons in
Croatia; secondly, owing to the present political
situation, there seemed to be a greater need in Bosnia
and Herzegovina than in Croatia to facilitate the tracing
activities, to prepare the exhumations and to establish
coordination mechanisms; and finally, his election to the
Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina by the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe provided
the expert with the opportunity to travel regularly to
Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Owing to the extraordinary nature, both in qualitative
and quantitative terms, of the problem of missing persons
in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and the fact
that the mandate of the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances does not cover cases resulting
from international armed conflicts, in 1994 the
Commission on Human Rights established the special
process as a joint mandate of the Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in the territory of the
former Yugoslavia and the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances. Mr. Manfred Nowak was
appointed as the expert in charge of the special process.
In 1995, in its resolution 1995/35 entitled "Special
process dealing with the problem of missing persons in
the territory of the former Yugoslavia", the
Commission on Human Rights changed the special process
into an independent mandate. It is to be noted that this
is the first mandate established by the Commission on
Human Rights which has both a country-specific and a
thematic character. The nature of the mandate is
humanitarian and non-accusatory; it aims to determine the
fate of thousands of missing persons in the former
Yugoslavia and thereby alleviate the suffering of their
relatives.

The Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution
1996/71, extended the mandate of the special process for
one year and requested the expert to submit a report to
the fifty-third session of the Commission. At the same
time the Commission further defined the mandate of the
expert by requesting him to coordinate his efforts with
other international actors in the field, to prepare a
comprehensive plan concerning the excavation of mass
graves and the exhumation of mortal remains, and to
assume responsibility for securing appropriate support,
including financial assistance, for these tasks.

The present report covers the expert's activities in the
aftermath of the armed conflict and the post-Dayton
period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the deployment
of UNTAES. In this respect, the regular methods of
work had to be adapted to the new situation in the field.
Up to the end of 1995, the special process essentially
functioned as a channel of communication between
non-governmental organizations or the family members of
the victims, regardless of whether the victims were
combatants or civilians, and the forces allegedly
responsible for their disappearance, with a view to
establishing the fate and whereabouts of the missing
persons (see E/CN.4/1995/37). Most of the work was
accomplished by written communications, consultations in
Geneva and the assistance of the High Commissioner's
human rights field offices, and the expert undertook only
a few missions to the field.

During the period under review, the focus of the mandate
changed considerably. The expert spent a significant
amount of his time in the field in order to personally
coordinate his activities with other international
actors, to attend all relevant meetings, to regularly
negotiate with the parties, and to facilitate and monitor
the process of exhumations. He also attached great
importance to the need to raise funds for a comprehensive
programme of forensic activities.

Since March 1996, the expert has spent between one and
two weeks per month in the region, primarily in Sarajevo.
He regularly met with representatives of Governments,
non-governmental organizations, family members of missing
persons and representatives of the international
community. He attended the monthly meetings of the
Working Group on Missing Persons chaired by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the
Expert Group on Exhumations and Missing Persons, and
other bodies involved in negotiation, mediation and
coordination. He travelled extensively in both entities
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and paid several short visits
to Croatia (Zagreb, plus one visit to Vukovar and
Osijek).

During the period under review, the special process
received a total of 3,058 cases through
non-governmental organizations and field offices, which
were considered, processed and transmitted to the
authorities allegedly held responsible. In compliance
with his division of labour with the ICRC (see paras.
33-36) most tracing requests were transferred to the
ICRC.

Although the Government of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia has officially accepted responsibility for the
cases of missing persons which occurred during the armed
conflict in 1991 between the Yugoslav National Army (JNA)
and the Croatian forces, it has never responded to any of
the cases which were transmitted by the expert during the
past years. During the period under review, 128 more
cases of missing persons of Croat origin were transmitted
to the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The majority of these cases occurred during the years
1991-1992, for which the JNA and the Serb paramilitary
groups were allegedly responsible. This time the cases
were to the expert with the following note from the
responsible government official:

"I have the honour to inform you that, concerning
missing persons, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has
been for some time actively cooperating with the
competent bodies of the Republic of Croatia, which is the
reason why I am returning to you the forms you have sent
me."

Two cases were transmitted to the President of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These cases
concerned one Croat and one Serb who are said to have
been abducted in 1993 by the Croatian Defence Forces
(HOS).

Two cases were transmitted to the Government of Bosnia
and Herzegovina under the urgent action procedure. These
cases concerned two ethnic Serbs who disappeared in 1996
while travelling between Dobrinja and Trnovo on a portion
of road controlled by Federation forces. Twenty-one other
cases were transmitted to the same Government, of which
two concerned ethnic Serbs who allegedly disappeared in
1992 and 1995. The other cases concerned ethnic Croats
who were reported missing from Bugojno in 1993 and for
which the Government, together with the local
authorities, are allegedly responsible. It is said that
these persons were forcibly taken to the
"Prusac" detention centre and to
"Iskra" stadium. From there, they were then
transferred to an unknown destination.

A list of 2,925 names of persons of Serb origin for whose
disappearance the Croatian forces are allegedly
responsible was transmitted to the Government of Croatia.
A number of these names concerned persons who reportedly
disappeared during the armed conflict in 1991. The
majority concerned persons who were reported as missing
in 1995, subsequent to the operations "Flash"
and "Storm".

During the period under review, no communication was
received from any of the above-mentioned authorities
concerning the cases of missing persons transmitted to
them. The special process is, therefore, unable to report
on the fate and whereabouts of the persons concerned.

With the entry into force of the Dayton Peace Agreement
on 14 December 1995, the tracing of missing
persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, like many other
humanitarian and human rights tasks, in fact became a
joint effort of the parties and various international
organizations. Therefore, the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights in resolution 1996/71 (para. 34)
requested the expert to coordinate his efforts with other
international bodies and demanded that all parties fully
cooperate with him. In addition to the support provided
to the expert by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, the staff of the United Nations human
rights field operation in the former Yugoslavia and the
United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(UNMIBH), the expert worked in close cooperation with
high representatives of the Government of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(Muslim and Croat side), the Republika Srpska and the
institutions and organizations, among others, described
in the following paragraphs.

State Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the
Tracing of Missing Persons. This official body of the
Government of Bosnia and Hezegovina which, together with
the Muslim side of the Federation, in fact represents the
Bosnian Muslim interests in the ICRC-chaired Working
Group on Missing Persons, still maintains a list of
26,887 missing persons of whom 98 per cent are
Bosnian Muslims.

Office for the Exchange of Prisoners and Missing Persons
of the Croatian Side of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Together with the Bosnian Croat forces
(HVO), this office represents the Croatian side of the
Federation in the ICRC-chaired Working Group on Missing
Persons. As of 13 December 1996, this office
maintained a list of 651 Bosnian Croats missing as a
result of armed conflict with Bosnian Serb forces as well
as a list of 218 Bosnian Croats missing as a result of
armed conflict with the Bosnian Army.

State Commission of the Republika Srpska for the Exchange
of Prisoners of War and Missing Persons. Together with
the former Minister of Health of the Republika Srpska,
this commission represents the interests of the Bosnian
Serbs in the ICRC-chaired Working Group on Missing
Persons. Even though this commission did not provide any
information directly to the special process, it is said
that some 2,000 Bosnian Serb soldiers are allegedly still
unaccounted for.

State Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Gathering
Facts on War Crimes. This official body established by
the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina carries out
research and investigations concerning war crimes and
crimes against humanity. This task also comprises
research on the phenomenon of enforced disappearances. To
this end the Commission has registered more than 5,000
missing persons.

Croatian Government Commission for Detained and Missing
Persons. This official body of the Croatian Government
primarily deals with Croats missing as a result of the
armed conflict with the JNA. As of
19 November 1996 the total number of persons
sought by this Commission was 2,534. Most efforts are
directed at bilateral negotiations with the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia Government Commission for
Humanitarian Issues and Missing Persons. Both commissions
also represent their respective Governments as observers
in the ICRC-chaired Working Group on Missing Persons.

Office of the High Representative (OHR). According to
annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the OHR was
established to monitor the implementation of the peace
settlement, to coordinate the activities of civilian
implementation, and to maintain liaison with IFOR. Most
of the coordination bodies relating to missing persons in
Bosnia and Herzegovina mentioned below were chaired by
the OHR and/or took place at his headquarters in
Sarajevo. Moreover, the OHR made a major contribution in
facilitating the process of inter-party exhumations.

Multinational military implementation Force (IFOR). In
resolution 1031 (1995) of 15 December 1995, the
United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII
of the Charter of the United Nations, authorized the
establishment of IFOR in accordance with annex 1-A of the
Dayton Peace Agreement. It is composed of more than
53,000 troops from 16 member nations of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 12 Partnership for
Peace nations and 8 other nations. In addition to its
military tasks, IFOR has the right, as spelled out in
annex 1-A, article VI, paragraph 3, of the
Agreement, "to fulfil its supporting tasks, within
the limits of its assigned principal tasks and available
resources, and on request, which include the following:
(a) to help create secure conditions for the conduct by
others of other tasks associated with the peace
settlement" and "to assist ... other
international organizations in their humanitarian
missions". It is beyond doubt that the tracing of
missing persons by all means, including the excavation of
mass graves and exhumation of mortal remains, is covered
by these provisions. Although IFOR has provided the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) with the requested assistance and full personal
security for the forensic experts working at mass grave
sites, the expert on missing persons and other
institutions concerned with exhumations for the purpose
of identifying missing persons, despite repeated
requests, unfortunately were not provided with such
support. In particular, IFOR refused to provide site
security, convoy security, demining and detecting of mass
graves. It did, however, offer general security,
information and emergency services.

In accordance with its mandate, IFOR was terminated on
20 December 1996. The Security Council, by
resolution 1088 (1996) of 12 December 1996,
established, as of 20 December 1996 for a period of
18 months, a multinational military Stabilization
Force (SFOR) as the legal successor to IFOR to fulfil the
role specified in annex 1-A and annex 2 of the Dayton
Peace Agreement. SFOR will also provide support to UNTAES
in case of emergency. SFOR initially will be half the
size of IFOR.

International Police Task Force (IPTF). In resolution
1035 (1995) of 21 December 1995, the United
Nations Security Council decided to establish the IPTF as
a United Nations civilian police operation in accordance
with annex 11 of the Dayton Peace Agreement. It is
composed of 1,709 unarmed police monitors from 34
countries. Its tasks are to monitor, observe and inspect
law enforcement activities and facilities, to advise and
train law enforcement personnel, to assess threats to
public order, and to report on human rights violations.
Under annex 11, article IV, paragraph 3, IPTF has the
right to inspect any police station and place of
detention. With respect to the identification of mass
grave sites and the exhumation of mortal remains, IPTF
provided valuable assistance including convoy security
and monitoring of local police. Since IPTF personnel are
not armed, full personal security can, however, only be
provided by IFOR and SFOR.

The Security Council by resolution 1088 (1996) of 12
December 1996 extended the mandate of the UNMIBH, which
includes IPTF, for an additional period terminating on 21
December 1997.

United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern
Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). By
resolution 1037 (1996) of 15 January 1996, the United
Nations Security Council established this peace-keeping
operation with the aim of a peaceful reintegration of the
region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Sirmium
into the Republic of Croatia. UNTAES is composed of
almost 5,000 military personnel from nine nations and
more than 900 civilians including human rights officers
and monitors. On 21 June 1996 the demilitarization of the
region was completed which was a major precondition for
the excavation of mass graves and other activities aimed
at clarifying the fate of missing persons. UNTAES
provided valuable support, in particular regarding the
identification and guarding of suspected mass grave sites
in the region and the exhumation of mortal remains at the
Ovcara gravesite in September 1996.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR provides assistance and relief to
more than 2 million refugees and internally displaced
persons in the former Yugoslavia. In accordance with
article I, paragraph 5, of annex 7 of the Dayton Peace
Agreement, UNHCR is developing, in close consultation
with asylum countries and the parties, a repatriation
plan that will allow for an early, peaceful, orderly and
phased return of refugees and internally displaced
persons. Although the tracing of missing persons falls
outside UNHCR's mandate, the Office offered its
cooperation to the expert with respect to tracing persons
among the beneficiaries of its programmes.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Since the
establishment of the special process in 1994, the expert
cooperated closely with the Special Rapporteur, in
particular by exchanging relevant information. This
cooperation is facilitated by the human rights field
operation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights which
supports both mandates of the Commission on Human Rights.
One example of this cooperation was the joint operation
conducted by Finnish forensic experts to collect and
identify unburied mortal remains in the Kravice region.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). In resolution 808 (1993) of 22 February 1993, the
United Nations Security Council decided to establish
the ICTY at The Hague with the mandate of investigating
war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, and
bringing individual perpetrators to justice. Up to the
end of 1996, 74 presumed perpetrators had been indicted,
of whom only seven are actually detained at The Hague.
Only one, who pleaded guilty, has so far been sentenced.
His term of imprisonment has been set at 10 years. In one
other case the verdict is expected shortly. The Office of
the Prosecutor has investigation teams in the field to
collect evidence by various means including the forensic
investigation of mass grave sites and the exhumation of
mortal remains. In this respect, the expert closely
cooperates with the ICTY. The aims of exhumation are,
however, different. While the Tribunal conducts an
exhumation at an alleged grave site only to obtain
evidence in support of indictments, which might often be
limited to a certain number of mortal remains, the expert
aims at the total exhumation of a given site for the sole
and purely humanitarian purpose of identifying as many
missing persons as possible.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Under
international humanitarian law applicable in
international armed conflicts, in particular article 123
of the Third and article 140 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949, this Geneva-based organization is the
principal agency authorized to collect all the
information it can obtain through official or private
channels concerning prisoners of war and protected
civilians. In addition, article 33, paragraph 3, of
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions relating
to the Protection of Victims of International Armed
Conflicts, stipulates that all tracing requests and
information concerning missing persons shall be
transmitted to the Central Tracing Agency of the ICRC or
national Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun)
Societies. In view of this overall competence of the
ICRC, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances does not deal with situations of
international armed conflict.

When the Commission on Human Rights, in resolution
1994/72 of 9 March 1994, established the
special process on missing persons in the territory of
the former Yugoslavia, it was obvious that the mandate
overlapped with that of the ICRC. Although the mandate of
the expert is broader than that of the ICRC, as it deals
with cases of missing persons in any part of the former
Yugoslavia which resulted from an international or
non-international armed conflict as well as with enforced
disappearances not related to any armed conflict, it is
difficult to distinguish clearly between these different
situations in the complex context of the events in the
former Yugoslavia. From the very beginning, therefore,
the expert aimed at establishing fruitful cooperation
with the ICRC based on a mutual exchange of information
and division of labour.

In article V of annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement,
the Bosnian parties agreed to provide information on all
persons unaccounted for through the tracing mechanisms of
the ICRC and also to "cooperate fully with the ICRC
in its efforts to determine the identities, whereabouts
and fate of the unaccounted for". Neither the
special process nor the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia is
explicitly mentioned in the Dayton Peace Agreement, and
they are only indirectly referred to in the context of
the general provision of article XIII of annex 6.
Nevertheless, the Commission on Human Rights, in
resolution 1996/71 of 23 April 1996, decided to extend
both mandates and requested the expert to coordinate his
efforts with the ICRC and other organizations concerned,
particularly through the Expert Group on Exhumations and
Missing Persons. The expert, therefore, agreed with the
ICRC on the following division of labour regarding
missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He
significantly reduced his own tracing activities,
participated only as an observer in the ICRC-chaired
Working Group on Missing Persons established in
accordance with article V of annex 7 of the Dayton Peace
Agreement (see below), made all the tracing requests he
had received (but which the ICRC had not received)
available to the ICRC, and referred new applicants to the
ICRC office in Sarajevo or to one of the 120 local Red
Cross branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 12 June
1996, the ICRC launched a tracing campaign by, inter
alia, publishing a book with the names of all missing
persons on its file and inviting the families to react to
the information contained in the book and to submit
further tracing requests. By the end of 1996, three
editions of the book had been published and the number of
tracing requests significantly increased. At the same
time the expert concentrated his efforts in Bosnia and
Herzegovina on the exhumation of mortal remains as one
method of clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing
persons. These activities were coordinated with ICRC,
ICTY and other organizations in the framework of the
Expert Group on Exhumations and Missing Persons (see
below).

This division of labour changed when the ICRC during the
fall of 1996 reversed its policy regarding the excavation
of mass graves and indicated its interest in getting
directly involved in exhumation activities. As a result,
the ICRC assumed the long term custody of the ante-mortem
database (AMDB) which was originally envisaged by the
Expert Group on Exhumations and Missing Persons to be
maintained under the auspices of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). PHR is a Boston-based
non-governmental organization of forensic
anthropologists, archaeologists, pathologists and other
health professionals that seeks to use medical and
scientific knowledge to protect human rights and promote
accountability for violations of human rights and
humanitarian law, in particular by investigating mass
graves to identify victims of extrajudicial executions.
It entered into a collaborative relationship with ICTY
and started in July 1996 to exhume mass graves in Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Croatia on behalf of the Tribunal. In
addition to providing evidence for ICTY, the autopsies
also lead to the identification of deceased missing
persons.

The expert cooperates with PHR in the tasks of monitoring
exhumations conducted by the parties and establishing an
AMDB of all missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This project has been financed primarily by the
Commission of the European Union, coordinated by the
Expert Group on Exhumations and Missing Persons and
carried out by PHR and the Association for the Promotion
of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (see
below).

Association for the Promotion of the Ludwig Boltzmann
Institute of Human Rights (BIM). This Vienna-based
non-governmental organization was established to promote
and support the research and field activities of the
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights which is an
interdisciplinary research institute and documentation
centre in the field of human rights affiliated with the
University of Vienna. BIM has carried out a number of
legal and empirical research projects on ethnic cleansing
in Bosnia and Herzegovina in support of the Commission of
Experts established pursuant to Security Council
resolution 780 (1992) of 6 October 1992 and of ICTY. In
June 1996, BIM started two research projects in support
of the special process. One is financed primarily by the
Government of the Netherlands and aims at investigating
the root causes, the precise extent and circumstances of
the phenomenon of disappearances in the former
Yugoslavia, and the other is financed primarily by the
Commission of the European Union and aims at collecting
relevant data for an AMDB by conducting interviews with
the family members of missing persons in close
collaboration with PHR.

Finnish Expert Team. With the financial assistance of the
Governments of Finland and the Netherlands, an expert
team of 22 Finnish forensic anthropologists,
pathologists, investigators, demining experts and health
professionals supported the expert in his exhumation
efforts, in particular in relation to mortal remains
discovered in the Kravice region (see below). The first
investigations were carried out in early spring of 1996.
In July, the unburied mortal remains of some 30 bodies
were collected and brought to Tuzla Hospital for
post-mortem examination. Some members of the Finnish
Expert Team continued their investigations during the
fall of 1996, subsequent to the resumption of activities
in the framework of the Joint Forensic Expert Commission
on Exhumation.

ICRC-chaired Working Group on Missing Persons. The
Working Group was formally established on 30 March 1996
in accordance with article V of annex 7 of the Dayton
Peace Agreement. It is chaired by the ICRC and is made up
of representatives of the parties to the conflict in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim and Croat
side), and the Republika Srpska, with the OHR as Ranking
Member. Representatives of the Republic of Croatia, the
FRY, of States witnesses to the signature of the Dayton
Peace Agreement (European Union, France, Germany, Russian
Federation, United Kingdom and United States), IFOR, the
expert on missing persons as well as representatives of
associations of families attend as observers. As of 19
December 1996, the Working Group had held a total of nine
sessions at the OHR in Sarajevo. Meetings usually lasted
a full day. Although the Working Group presently acts as
the main channel for information on missing persons
between the parties and although more than 15,000 cases
have been formally submitted to the parties, the number
of answers by the parties is fairly small, and only a
very few missing persons could be found alive. The ICRC
informed the expert that as of 3 October 1996, a total of
552 cases submitted to the Working Group could be
considered clarified; 443 clarifications were based on
answers obtained from the parties (only one person was
alive; the others were clarified primarily as a result of
exhumations by the parties), while 79 cases could be
closed thanks to witnesses or based on other sources
available to the ICRC. Of the latter 27 persons were
found alive, while 52 were dead.

After the ICRC changed its policy towards exhumations, it
announced on 1 November 1996 that it would
suggest to the Working Group that it establish an
Operational Arm aimed at implementing decisions of the
Working Group, in particular to "conduct the joint
exhumations presently undertaken under the auspices of
OHR".

Expert Group on Exhumations and Missing Persons. On 22
February 1996, the Expert Group was established on the
initiative of various organizations in order to
coordinate the efforts of the international actors
involved in exhumation activities. It is chaired by the
OHR. In 1996 it held a total of 15 meetings in Vienna and
Geneva through May, and since June in Sarajevo. Its
membership has been gradually enlarged. At present it is
composed of the OHR, the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights, the expert on missing persons, ICTY, IFOR, IPTF,
UNTAES, ICRC, PHR, BIM, a representative of the United
States Government, and the newly established
International Commission on Missing Persons in the Former
Yugoslavia (ICMP, see below). A focal point has been
established at the OHR to prepare the meetings and to
coordinate exhumation activities between meetings. The
Expert Group agreed on common guidelines and minimum
standards for professional exhumations, including the
need for the establishment of an AMDB before large-scale
exhumations could be undertaken as well as the need to
actively involve the Bosnian parties and local forensic
experts in these activities. It also assisted the expert
in his efforts to prepare a budget for a comprehensive
programme of forensic activities and to raise funds from
the international community. It entrusted PHR and BIM
with the task of establishing an AMDB, coordinated a
programme of international forensic experts seconded by
Governments aimed at assisting and monitoring exhumations
and autopsies carried out by the Bosnian parties, and
established a Joint Forensic Expert Commission on
Exhumation in order to organize and carry out inter-party
exhumations.

Joint Forensic Expert Commission on Exhumation. After
extensive discussions in the Expert Group on Exhumations
and Missing Persons on how to actively involve the
Bosnian parties in exhumation activities on the territory
of another party, the OHR convened a meeting with
representatives of the parties and associations of
families on 25 June 1996 in Banja Luka. The parties
agreed on a list of priority sites and a preliminary
timetable for the clearing of unburied mortal remains,
and established a joint expert commission consisting of
two forensic pathologists from each party, with the task
of implementing the agreed-upon inter-party exhumations.
This joint "Banja Luka exhumation process",
however, soon met with serious political problems and was
in fact stalled for many weeks during the summer months.
Only after a high-level political meeting on 4 September
1996 chaired by the OHR in Sarajevo could an
"operational agreement on exhumations and the
clearing of unburied mortal remains" be reached, on
the basis of which joint exhumations were continued at
five priority sites: Kravice, Ozren, Glamoc, Koprivna and
Bosanski Brod.

International Commission on Missing Persons in the Former
Yugoslavia (ICMP). In his last report to the Commission
(E/CN.4/1996/36, para. 81), the expert proposed the
establishment of a "high-level multilateral
commission on missing persons" composed of
representatives of the Governments of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
the Republika Srpska, the Republic of Croatia, the FRY
and key international personalities. Originally, this
initiative did not receive much support from the
international community and was, therefore, not reflected
in resolution 1996/71.

At the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Lyon, France,
however, United States President Clinton on 29 June
1996 made a similar proposal when he announced the
formation of an "international blue ribbon
commission on the missing in the former Yugoslavia",
with former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance as its
Chairman. Although the United States Government until
then had been extremely reluctant towards the efforts of
the expert to facilitate exhumations for the purpose of
identifying missing persons, President Clinton in this
statement also announced that the commission "will
also reinforce efforts to ensure that exhumations, when
necessary to identify the fate of missing persons, are
conducted under international supervision and in
accordance with international standards. In addition, the
commission will facilitate the development of an
ante-mortem database to support exhumation efforts".
The United States Government contributed US$ 2
million at the time the Commission was established, part
of which is expected to support the programme of forensic
activities.

On 11 October the International Commission on Missing
Persons in the Former Yugoslavia (ICMP), as it has now
been officially named, held its initial meeting in Geneva
with the following members present: Cyrus Vance,
Chairman; Lord Carrington, former British Foreign
Secretary; Jose Ayala-Lasso, High Commissioner for
Human Rights; and Cornelio Summaruga, President of the
ICRC. Other members include Robert Badinter, former
French Minister of Justice; Max van der Stoel, OSCE High
Commissioner on National Minorities and former Dutch
Minister of Foreign Affairs; Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Milan
Milutinovic, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the
FRY; Mate Granic, Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Croatia, Haris Silajdzic, Co-Chairman of the Council of
Ministers, from the Muslim side of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina; Jadranko Prlic, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, from the Croat side; and Dragan Kalinic,
Chairman of the Republika Srpska Assembly. The OHR serves
as special adviser. Other advisers who participated in
the Geneva meeting included the expert on missing persons
as well as representatives of UNTAES, IFOR, IPTF, ICTY,
the United Nations Mine Action Centre (MAC), ICRC
and PHR.

The ICMP identified priority areas for future action,
including support for families and survivors, pressure on
the parties to cooperate in the ICRC-chaired Working
Group on Missing Persons and in conducting humanitarian
exhumations, as well as creating a central source of
accurate information. During the fall of 1996, the ICMP
established an office in Sarajevo, and in late November
the Chairman and some members paid a first visit to the
region.

The expert was requested by the Commission on Human
Rights resolution 1996/71 (para. 36) "to assume
responsibility for securing appropriate support,
including financial assistance, for the activities of the
Expert Group", i.e. for a comprehensive programme of
forensic activities. Subsequent to consultations with the
Expert Group on Exhumation and Missing Persons, the
expert drew up a comprehensive budget of
US$ 6,120,000 necessary for exhumation and
identification of some 1,000 bodies (see annex II), and
made an appeal to Member States for financial
contributions or contributions in kind. Moreover, the
expert pointed out that exhumations and identifications
undertaken by local authorities must be carried out in
accordance with international standards and monitored by
the international community. He presented this budget to
representatives of States on 30 May 1996 in Geneva, and
thereafter organized further briefings and fund-raising
meetings with State representatives in New York (6 June),
Sarajevo (13 August) and Geneva (23 August and 21
November).

Subsequent to the first meeting on 30 May 1996, only the
Governments of Finland and the Netherlands decided on a
common operation which consisted of a team of 22 Finnish
forensic experts who were sent to the region of Kravice,
in Republika Srpska, to collect unburied mortal remains.
The French Government made available two forensic experts
to monitor excavations carried out by local authorities.
The European Union contributed financially to the AMDB
project which is being carried out by two
non-governmental organizations. In addition, the
Government of the Netherlands contributed financially to
a research project conducted by BIM in support of the
special process.

Subsequent to the expert's fund-raising appeals in
August, the Swiss Government made available a forensic
expert and contributed financially to PHR for its
activities. The French Government also sent on two
occasions three more forensic experts for monitoring. As
of October 1996, the Governments of Ireland, Denmark and
Germany had made the first financial contributions for
this purpose. Contributions from other Governments, e.g.
Norway, could be made available in early 1997. Moreover,
million contributed by the United States
Government at the time of the establishment of the ICMP,
is expected to be partly used in support of the programme
of forensic activities.

Although the international community seems to be slowly
becoming more understanding concerning the need to
clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons by
means of exhuming and identifying mortal remains, and
therefore more responsive to the fund raising appeals,
there is still an urgent need for considerably greater
contributions to finance the comprehensive programme of
forensic activities requested by the Commission on Human
Rights in paragraph 34 (a) of resolution 1996/71.

In his last report to the Commission (E/CN.4/1996/36,
paras. 74-79), the expert drew the attention of the
international community to the need for excavating mass
graves and exhuming and identifying the mortal remains of
missing persons. He stressed that "the primary
responsibility for carrying out these tasks remains with
the authorities under whose jurisdiction a suspected mass
grave falls". He added, however, that "if the
authorities concerned are not willing to carry out the
excavation, then the task will fall to international
organizations and mechanisms, including the special
process". Consequently, the expert requested the
Commission to consider this issue and to authorize the
necessary resources.

The response of the international community to this
appeal was far from enthusiastic. The United States
Government, in particular, was extremely reluctant to get
the international community involved in exhumation
activities beyond those conducted by ICTY. It was argued
that the problem of missing persons should be solved by
putting pressure on the parties concerned to disclose all
relevant information rather than by excavating mass
graves and, thereby, risking the danger of interfering
with the peace process. These arguments were also
strongly supported by the ICRC which stressed that it
would not participate in any exhumation activities. The
expert, on the other hand, was supported primarily by the
Governments of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina which
agreed that the clarification of the fate and whereabouts
of missing persons by all means, including the exhumation
of mortal remains, was a necessary precondition for the
process of reconciliation and to achieve a lasting and
sustainable peace in the region.

The negotiations at the fifty-second session of the
Commission on Human Rights resulted in the extremely
vague compromise formulation of paragraph 34 of the
Commission resolution 1996/71 drawing "attention to
the need for immediate and urgent efforts to determine
the fate of missing persons, including in cases where
other means of determining the fate of the missing have
proven unsuccessful and upon the recommendation by
qualified experts that exhumation will provide an
efficient means for resolving cases that are unlikely to
be resolved by other means, an eventual examination by
such experts of mass grave sites where arbitrary
executions or killings of many thousands of persons are
reported to have taken place, in particular, near
Srebrenica, Zepa, Prijedor, Sanski Most and Vukovar, and
the communication of any determination to the families of
the missing". Nevertheless, the expert was requested
to coordinate his efforts with ICTY, OHR, ICRC and the
Special Rapporteur, particularly through the Expert Group
on Exhumations and Missing Persons, to "prepare a
comprehensive plan for dealing with this question",
to facilitate the establishment of the AMDB, and to
secure appropriate support, including financial
assistance, for the activities of the Expert Group.

The expert's efforts to implement this fairly vague
mandate of the Commission in order to facilitate
exhumations for the purpose of clarifying cases of
missing persons were further hampered by the extremely
reluctant response of the donor community to his
fund-raising appeals. Up to 15 October 1996, no
contributions had arrived in the special account for
exhumations that had been opened. Fortunately, some
donors agreed to contribute to the programme of forensic
activities by making funds available through other
channels. After extensive consultations, the Expert Group
in late spring agreed on the following initial programme
of action:

(a) Establishment of an ante-mortem
database for all ICRC-registered missing persons in
Bosnia and Herzegovina with a first priority for
missing persons from the Srebrenica region;
(b) Priority for ICTY exhumations and close cooperation
with ICTY in order to ensure that all mortal remains
discovered in a given grave site are exhumed and an
attempt made to identify them;
(c) Encouragement, assistance and monitoring by
international forensic experts of exhumations conducted
by the parties themselves on territory under their
control;
(d) Encouragement, assistance and monitoring by
international forensic experts of inter-party
exhumations;
(e) Priority for mortal remains discovered on the surface
either by the parties concerned or by international
forensic experts.

The implementation of this initial programme of action
met with considerable political, financial and other
obstacles. There were major differences of opinion among
the Bosnian parties concerning inter-party exhumations,
and the policy of reciprocity seriously endangered the
process. In addition, no satisfactory general solutions
to the problems of demining and security of the experts
working in the field could be achieved within the Expert
Group. In particular, IFOR consistently refused to
provide the same assistance to humanitarian exhumations
as it had agreed to provide to ICTY. Nevertheless, in
joint efforts, with the active support of various actors,
in particular the OHR, some progress could be
achieved in the course of the period under review, as
outlined below.

2. Ante-mortem Database

The Commission on Human Rights, in
resolution 1996/71 (para. 34 (b))
underlined "the need for the establishment of an
ante-mortem database to assist with identification of the
dead before large-scale exhumations can be
considered". Consequently, the expert put the
establishment of an AMDB high on his agenda although no
funds had been made available through official
United Nations channels. The Expert Group,
therefore, requested two non-governmental organizations,
PHR and BIM, to raise funds and to set up a joint
project, coordinated by the Expert Group and to be
carried out under the auspices of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights. When the ICRC reversed its policy
towards exhumations (see above), and subsequent to a
meeting between the High Commissioner and the President
of the ICRC on 1 November 1996 in Geneva, it was,
however, decided that ICRC would assume the long-term
responsibility for and custody of the AMBD.

Thanks to generous contributions from the Commission of
the European Union and the Government of
the Netherlands, the joint AMDB project could start
in July 1996. As had been agreed, the project during
its initial phase concentrated on collecting data on the
roughly 6,500 Bosnian Muslims missing from the
region of Srebrenica. Since the majority of their
families presently live in and around Tuzla, it was
decided to establish the headquarters there. If in the
course of the ongoing exhumations the need should arise
to collect data on other missing persons, the project is
flexible enough to respond to such requests.
Following a request from the authorities of the
Republika Srpska, it was also decided to establish
an office in Banja Luka, in order to collect
data on missing persons of Serb origin.

PHR has the overall responsibility for the establishment
and maintenance of the AMDB. This includes the
development of a computer database with the assistance of
experts from the University of Tuzla, the overall
methodology of the project, and a comprehensive
questionnaire for the collection of all pertinent
information regarding missing persons which is necessary
for the purpose of identification by comparing it to
post-mortem information recovered at the time of autopsy
of victims exhumed from mass graves. This information
includes physical characteristics, type of clothing worn,
personal effects, and history of injuries and damage to
bones and teeth.

BIM is responsible for collecting the relevant data by
conducting interviews with family members of missing
persons. This includes the search for the respective
family members (with the assistance of ICRC and local
authorities), the recruitment and training of local
interviewers, psychological supervision as well as the
actual organization, coordination, carrying out and
certification of all interviews. As at the end
of 1996, some 30 interviewers had been
recruited and trained in Tuzla and had conducted roughly
3,200 interviews with family members in and around
Tuzla. Moreover, some 20 interviewers who are being
trained in Banja Luka will start carrying out
interviews in early 1997. It is expected that by
spring 1997 the collection of most of the
ante-mortem data concerning missing persons from
Srebrenica will be completed. This will make possible the
establishment of a comprehensive plan for exhumations in
the region of Srebrenica during 1997 as requested by
the Commission on Human Rights, subject of course to the
necessary political, financial, logistical and security
requirements.

3. Exhumations by ICTY

With the assistance of PHR, IFOR and IPTF, the Office of
the Prosecutor of ICTY during the period under review had
conducted exhumations for the purpose of collecting
evidence at four sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Cerska, Nova Kasaba, Lazete and Branjevo Farm,
Pilica. These exhumations were related to the alleged
murder of civilians following the fall of Srebrenica.
More than 425 bodies have been exhumed from these
sites and are in the process of being autopsied. Until
now only a small number of these bodies have been
identified but the chances of identification will
significantly increase as soon as all relevant
ante-mortem data is available. In addition, ICTY
exhumed 200 bodies from a mass grave at Ovcara
near Vukovar.

4. Exhumations at the Kravice hillside

In January 1996, the Special Rapporteur, during one
of her missions to the Republika Srpska, was
shown a considerable number of unburied mortal remains
scattered over a comparably large, mountainous and remote
forest near the village of Kravice, some
10 kilometres from Srebrenica. It is supposed that
these are mortal remains of Bosnians of Muslim origin,
victims from Srebrenica. In accordance with the policy of
the Expert Group to attach priority to the recovery of
unburied mortal remains, even in the absence of
ante-mortem data, a joint project between the Special
Rapporteur and the expert was developed aimed at removing
all mortal remains from the site and transporting them to
Tuzla for autopsy. After extensive negotiations with the
authorities of both entities, and with the generous
financial assistance of the Governments of Finland and
the Netherlands, it was agreed that the mortal
remains would be recovered by a team of 22 Finnish
experts and observed by a team of Bosnian Muslim experts.
The Finnish team included two demining experts.
Although IFOR did not provide the requested site and
convoy security similar to the assistance provided to
ICTY, it was decided to start the project in June on the
basis that IPTF had offered its full support (in
conjunction with general area security of IFOR) and the
authorities of the Republika Srpska had, in
principle, agreed to the project. By
5 July 1996, the Finnish expert team had
recovered the mortal remains of some 30 bodies when
they were ordered by the Minister of Interior of the
Republika Srpska to stop their activities. Although
this decision obviously violated earlier agreements, the
expert, taking into account the refusal of IFOR to
provide the requested security, decided to halt the
project.

In view of the fact that this site is estimated to
contain several hundred unburied remains, it was later
designated as one of the priority sites of inter-party
exhumations. Since August, the remains of approximately
200 further victims have been collected by Bosnian
Muslim experts. All remains have been brought to the
hospital in Tuzla where they are being autopsied by
Bosnian Muslim experts with the assistance of the Finnish
team. As of the end of November, none of the bodies had
been identified.

5. Inter-party exhumations

The Expert Group has adopted the policy of encouraging
the local authorities to carry out exhumations
themselves. On 25 June 1996, the Joint Forensic
Expert Commission on Exhumation, comprising the
three parties, was established under the auspices of
the OHR to facilitate exhumations across
the inter-entity boundary line.

The Expert Group decided that international forensic
physicians had to monitor the exhumations and
identification of bodies undertaken within the Joint
Commission's activities to ensure that they were carried
out in accordance with international standards. In this
regard, and subsequent to the expert's appeal, the
Government of France provided two forensic experts
for a period of three weeks and one forensic
expert for a period of one week as well as two
others for a period of two weeks, and the Government
of Switzerland provided an expert for a period of
five weeks.

However, the Republika Srpska imposed the
de facto principle of a one-to-one body exchange
which was then followed by the Bosnian Croat authorities.
Consequently, the inter-party exhumations were suspended
at the end of July 1996. Owing to the efforts of
the OHR, the Joint Commission was able to resume
activities as of 4 September 1996.

To date five sites have been excavated within the
framework of the Joint Commission's mandate. In the
territory under Federation control, the mortal remains of
106 persons of Serb origin exhumed from the site at
Glamoc were all identified. The mortal remains of
35 persons of Serb origin who were killed
in 1995 were collected from the surface at Ozren;
only eight have been identified. In Bosanski Brod,
Republika Srpska, 15 bodies of persons of Croat
origin, which were all identified, were exhumed from a
cemetery for reburial in a Catholic cemetery. A
second site in the Bosanski Brod area, in
Koprivna, was excavated and 11 mortal remains were
exhumed of which none has yet been identified. Moreover,
the project carried out by Finnish experts in Kravice,
Republika Srpska, which had to be abandoned owing to
the Republika Srpska authorities' sudden
non-cooperation, was continued by the Joint Commission.
From this site the unburied mortal remains of some
200 Bosnian Muslims were collected, of which none
has yet been identified.

6. Exhumations by the parties on territory under their control

All Bosnian parties carried out excavations of mass
graves on their own territory if there was reason to
believe that persons of their own ethnic community were
buried there. This was the case, in particular, in areas
which had to be handed over from one party to
another pursuant to the Dayton Peace Agreement. Often the
parties had fairly detailed information beforehand on who
was buried where, which means, of course, that not all
persons exhumed were registered as missing and that the
percentage of identification was comparatively high.

The State Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the
Tracing of Missing Persons provided the expert with a
detailed list of 35 mass graves in the regions of
Sarajevo, Gorazde, Jajce, Sanski Most, Kljuc and
Donji Vakuf which had been excavated
during 1996. In these 35 mass graves the mortal
remains of a total of 1,052 persons were exhumed of
whom not less than 869 could be identified. The largest
of these graves were Laniste 1 and 2 near Kljuc
with 187 and 77 bodies exhumed (144 and
70 persons identified), Svrake near Sarajevo
(67 bodies exhumed and 48 persons identified)
and Sasina near Sanski Most (65 bodies exhumed
and 64 persons identified). In addition, more than
100 bodies were exhumed and identified from
individual graves near Sarajevo, Mostar, Kljuc and
Sanski Most.

The State Commission of the Republika Srpska for the
Exchange of Prisoners of War and Missing Persons carried
out excavation of a mass grave near Mrkonic Grad
where the mortal remains of 186 persons were exhumed
of whom 140 could be identified. Other mass graves
were identified and will be excavated in 1997.
According to the information provided by the State
Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Tracing of
Missing Persons from a grave site in Nevesinje,
52 mortal remains were exhumed by the
Republika Srpska authorities of which 49 have been
identified as Bosnians of Muslim origin who were
killed by the Bosnian Serb forces in 1994.

The Office for the Exchange of Prisoners and Missing
Persons of the Croat side of the Federation also carried
out some excavations near Jajce, Kupres and other areas
under their control but no exact details have been
provided. However, according to the information provided
by the State Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the
Tracing of Missing Persons, the Croat side of the
Federation conducted exhumations at grave sites in
Carevo Polje near Jajce and Modric, Capljina. From
the first site 57 mortal remains were exhumed,
of which 25 could be identified as Bosnians of Muslim and
Croat origin who were killed by the Bosnian Serb forces
in 1992. From the second site 26 mortal
remains were exhumed of which 18 could be identified as
Bosnians of Muslim origin who were killed by the Bosnian
Croat Forces in 1993.

7. Monitoring of exhumations by international forensic experts

As mentioned above, the Governments of France,
Switzerland and Finland as well as PHR made available a
few forensic experts to monitor inter-party exhumations
as well as exhumations by the parties on territory under
their own control. In addition, human rights
monitors of the United Nations, the European Union,
the OSCE and other organizations observed some of
these exhumations with the aim of ensuring that
international standards were adhered to. These monitoring
efforts were, however, far from satisfactory owing to the
fact that the international organizations often were not
properly informed by the parties and that not enough
international forensic experts were available.

The majority of the roughly 3,000 cases of missing
persons which the special process transmitted to the
Government of the FRY were related to the armed
conflict between the Croatian forces and the Yugoslav
National Army (JNA) together with Serb paramilitary
groups such as Arkan's "Tigers", Seselj's
"White Eagles" and Martic's forces. The armed
confrontation between the two communities of Serbs
and Croats living in Croatia started in early
March 1991 when Pakrac (ex-Sector West) fell under
Serb control. On 3 May 1991 the JNA
intervened in Borovo Selo (Sector East) and
afterwards took an active role in the conflict. In
July 1991, after intense fighting in Eastern
Slavonia, Erdut, Dalj and Aljmas were captured by the
Serb paramilitary groups and the JNA. The city of
Vukovar became, as of August 1991, the target of
heavy shelling and attacks by the JNA and the
Serb paramilitary groups, namely the
"Tigers" and the "White Eagles".
On 18 November 1991, after 86 days of
resistance and heavy fighting, the Croatian National
Guard in Vukovar finally surrendered.

The majority of these Croatian missing persons
disappeared from Eastern Slavonia, and in particular
from Vukovar and its hospital. When the city of Vukovar
fell, the JNA and the paramilitary forces captured
the hospital. According to various sources, the director
of the hospital and the commander of the JNA had
agreed to evacuate the Croatian patients to Croatian-held
territory, with the ICRC and the European Community
Monitoring Mission supervising the operation.
Nevertheless, on 20 November 1991, only women,
children and the elderly were transported to
Croatian-held territory. The other patients were,
allegedly, transferred to the JNA barracks, and their
whereabouts remain unknown.

In 1992, a forensic expert discovered a mass grave
in Ovcara, 6 km south-east of Vukovar. Subsequently,
the mass grave was under constant guard by the
United Nations forces to prevent any attempt to open
or otherwise disturb the site. In September 1996, a
team of forensic experts from PHR, with the full security
and logistical support of UNTAES (including the demining
of the site), excavated the Ovcara site and exhumed the
mortal remains to collect war crimes evidence for the
International Criminal Tribunal. The mortal remains of
200 persons have been transferred to the medical
school of Zagreb for identification, of which, to date,
90 have been identified as the missing persons from the
Vukovar hospital. The forensic physicians believe that
all the exhumed remains from Ovcara belong to the missing
persons who disappeared on 20 November 1991
from the hospital in Vukovar.

In 1995 and 1996, the expert transmitted to the
Government of Croatia lists of 2,973 missing persons
of Serb origin who allegedly disappeared subsequent to
the Croatian offensives "Flash" and
"Storm" launched in May
and August 1995 to recapture territories of the
United Nations Protected Areas (UNPA) West,
South and North.

Operation "Flash" started on
1 May 1995 in Western Slavonia and lasted for
four days. Despite the Cessation of Hostilities
Agreement between the warring parties which was
negotiated by the United Nations on
3 May 1995, the fighting continued till
4 May 1995 when in late afternoon the Croatian
Serb forces surrendered. It is reported that some
1,300 Croatian Serb males were transferred to
detention centres in Varazdin, Pozega and Bjelovar for
interrogation, and the fate of many of them remains
unknown. It is further reported that some
8,000 civilians, mainly women, children and the
elderly, fled the fighting and sought refuge in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, in particular in Banja Luka,
Nova Topola and Dubica. Consequently, the majority
of families were separated, some of their members leaving
and the others remaining or detained. The same day the
President of the Security Council issued a statement
expressing deep concern at reports that the human rights
of the Serb population of Western Slavonia were
being violated.

Operation "Storm" was launched on
4 August 1995. The offensive lasted for
four days, and according to reports, many human
rights abuses and violations of fundamental freedoms of
civilians were committed by the Croatian Army. It was
also reported that Serb men were separated from the
elderly, women and children and taken away by Croatian
officials for interrogation; the whereabouts of many of
them remain unknown. It was further reported that
soldiers systematically looted and burned houses in
localities they captured. As one witness stated
after the fall of the city of Knin on
5 August 1995, "sectors of the city were
ablaze and [there were] dead bodies in the streets".
Consequently, local ethnic Serbs felt their security to
be at stake and thousands fled to north and west Bosnia
and Herzegovina and to the FRY. It is estimated that
95 per cent of the population of Sectors South
and North (i.e. around 200,000 persons) left
their home towns, while some thousands were reported
blocked in their villages owing to the constant shelling
of the roads and attacks by Croatian troops. This
situation also resulted in the separation of families,
some members leaving and others staying behind, each
trying to determine the others' fate.

After the Operations "Flash" and
"Storm", the Croatian Government Commission for
Detained and Missing Persons carried out a number of
excavations of mass graves in the former UNPAs West,
South and North. As of 27 August 1996, a
total of 553 bodies, including 212 women, had
been discovered in these mass graves as well as in
individual graves.

Moreover, several thousand persons of Serb origin who
were fleeing through the highway to Belgrade were
allegedly killed by the Croatian Army in Spacva Forest.
Owing to the large size of the Spacva Forest, the exact
site of the mass grave where they were buried is not
known but it could be between the village of Bosnjaci
(near Zupanja) and the village of Lipovac. According to
reports, during operation "Storm" the Croatian
Army conducted another mass killing on the road between
Glina and Bosanski Novi, near the villages Gornji
and Donji Zirovac where mass grave sites have
allegedly been located.

According to the non-governmental organization Croatian
Helsinki Committee some 2,000 persons of Serb origin
are still missing subsequent to the operations
"Flash" and "Storm".

During the period under review, the Croatian Government
Commission for Detained and Missing Persons and the
FRY Government Commission for Humanitarian Issues and
Missing Persons held meetings only at the working group
level. During the meeting of 16 and 17 April in
Zagreb, the Chairmen of the respective Commissions
signed a protocol on cooperation between the
two Commissions based on exchanging and disclosing
information on detained and missing persons. However, on
20 and 21 August at the meeting of the working group
in Zagreb, the FRY Commission declared that there were no
Croatian detainees in that country and submitted a list
of 1,096 persons who were killed in Vukovar
in 1991, of whom 755 were identified and 341 were
non-identified. From this list, only 93 persons were
registered as missing by the Croatian Government
Commission and the others were already known by their
families to be dead. The FRY Commission has delivered
death certificates for 496 persons on that
list. According to the Croatian Commission the death
certificates do not contain sufficient identification
data of the persons concerned.

On 23 August 1996 the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and the FRY
signed an Agreement on the Normalization of Relations.
Pursuant to article 6 of this Agreement both parties
undertake "to accelerate the process of resolving
the issue of the missing persons without delay, whereas
both Contracting Parties shall immediately exchange any
available data on such persons". Nevertheless,
during the October meetings of the Croatian and FRY
Commissions, again no significant progress could be
achieved. As of 19 November 1996, the total
number of missing persons sought by the Republic of
Croatia was still 2,534 of whom more than 1,200 are
reported missing from the Vukovar-Srijem region. More
than 80 per cent have been registered as
missing since 1991. The Croatian Commission
repeatedly accused the JNA and the Belgrade Military
Medical Academy of not disclosing the identification
protocols in their possession of 1,400 identified
and more than 350 unidentified persons. The FRY
Commission seeks some 1,000 missing persons but
reportedly insists on resolving only a smaller number of
cases of persons mostly missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and makes the resolving of all other cases conditional
upon this.

It appears, therefore, once again that despite the
normalization of relations between the
two countries the bilateral Commission has not
functioned effectively and that the clarification of the
fate and whereabouts of missing persons in Croatia has
been linked to the resolution of missing persons in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is to be hoped that the
recently established International Commission on Missing
Persons in the Former Yugoslavia (ICMP), in which
high-level representatives of the FRY, Croatia and
the three parties of Bosnia and Herzegovina
participate, will be able to exert more pressure on all
parties concerned to disclose all the relevant
information they possess.

Subsequent to the declaration of independence of the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on
3 March 1992, the Serbian Democratic Party on
27 March 1992 proclaimed the Serbian Republic
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throughout the month of
March 1992, there were clashes between the
communities in Sarajevo. As from 7 April 1992,
when Sarajevo came under intense artillery fire by
the JNA, the war broke out all over the country. It
is reported that between May and July 1992 thousands
of civilians of Muslim origin were killed while thousands
more were detained in concentration camps and a
considerable number deported. By the end of summer of
1992 some 40,000 Muslims had allegedly been killed
in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the ICRC
figures some 5,000 Bosnians of Muslim origin
disappeared during the period May to July 1992,
while the Bosnian Commission for the Tracing of Missing
Persons alleges that almost 10,000 persons went
missing during the same period.

Moreover, many disappearances occurred in the context of
the armed conflict between the Bosnian Croat forces and
the government army. Tension between the
two communities intensified in April 1993, and
on 15 April 1993 fierce fighting broke out.
Towns such as Zenica, Vitez, Konjic, Kiseljak and
Jablinca were constantly shelled, and houses were looted
and burned and a number of mosques were destroyed. In
May 1993, sporadic fighting was concentrated in
Mostar and the surrounding area. In order to establish
Mostar as an "ethnically clean" capital of
the self-proclaimed "Republic of Herceg-Bosna",
the Bosnian Croat forces (HVO) were forcing out
civilians of Muslim origin. A blockade was reportedly
imposed on the 55,000 Muslims remaining in the
eastern part (Muslim sector) of the city and the
population was forced to live in conditions of extreme
deprivation, especially of food and medicine. According
to United Nations officials, in May 1993
some 200 civilians of Muslim origin were
detained by Bosnian Croat forces in and around Mostar. On
26 June 1993, the Bosnian Croats and the
Bosnian Serbs launched a joint attack on a number of
towns in central Bosnia and Herzegovina including Maglaj,
Zepce and Zavidovici. In September 1993, a Bosnian
Croat official admitted that the living conditions of
some 4,000 Bosnian Muslims who had been detained in
June and July 1993 and were being held in
three centres near Medjugorje were poor and did not
comply with the provisions of international humanitarian
law.

The President of the Security Council in his
statement of 3 February 1994 expressed the
commitment of the Security Council to "consider
serious measures if the Republic of Croatia fails to put
an immediate end to all forms of interference in the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina". Subsequently,
the Government and the Bosnian Croat forces signed on
23 February 1994 a general cease-fire agreement
which took effect one day later. On
18 March 1994, representatives of the
Governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of
Croatia signed the Washington Accord on the creation of
the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina between the
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian
Croats.

On 6 July 1995 the Bosnian Serb forces attacked
Srebrenica which had been declared "safe area"
by the Security Council in
resolution 819 (1993)
of 16 April 1993. The city fell under
Bosnian Serb control on 11 July 1995. It is
reported that as the Bosnian Serb forces moved into the
city, many inhabitants of Srebrenica sought refuge in
Potocari, 5 km north of Srebrenica, where the
UNPROFOR compound was situated. Potocari was also seized
on 12 July 1995. Bosnian Serb forces
transported women, children and the elderly to the
confrontation line west of Srebrenica from where these
people had to walk 6 km to reach Kladanj in
Government-held territory. Military-age and able men
between the ages of 15 and 70 were allegedly
either taken to Bratunac or assembled in the football
stadium at Nova Kasaba. Several thousand inhabitants
of Srebrenica fled the town shortly before it fell under
Bosnian Serb control and walked for many days (some even
for several weeks and months) through the woods to
Government-held territory. During this "death
march" they were the targets of constant attacks by
Bosnian Serb forces. According to the displaced persons'
testimonies, civilians were subjected to summary
executions and more than 2,000 men who had surrendered in
the village of Kravice were shot in groups of 5 to 10.
Moreover, many dead bodies were seen in Potocari, and on
the way between Bratunac and Konjevic Polje. A number of
women unaccounted for were reportedly prevented from
travelling to Government-held territory.

Subsequent to years of war and horror, finally, under the
auspices of the Contact Group, negotiations to reach a
peaceful settlement to the conflict in Bosnia and
Herzegovina were held during the period 1 to 20 November
1995, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio,
United States of America. On 20 November 1995, the
Presidents of the Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia and Serbia agreed on the terms of a General
Framework Agreement and a total of 12 annexes thereto. On
14 December 1995 the Dayton Peace Agreement was
officially signed in Paris and entered into force upon
signature.

One year after the cessation of hostilities and the entry
into force of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the exact
number of missing persons is still greatly disputed. The
State Commission on Missing Persons of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, according to information provided to the
expert on 7 October 1996, still maintains a
list of 26,887 missing persons of whom 24,484
(91 per cent) are men and 2,403
(9 per cent) women. Almost
98 per cent of these are Bosnians of Muslim
origin. The Republika Srpska is held responsible for
24,742 cases (92 per cent), of which 22,049
(89 per cent) are civilians and only 2,693
(11 per cent) military. The Croat side of the
Federation is held responsible for the remaining 2,145
cases (8 per cent) of whom
1,095 (51.9 per cent) are civilians and
1,050 (49 per cent) military.

According to information provided to the expert on 13
December 1996, the Office for the Exchange of Prisoners
and Missing Persons of the Croatian side of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina still maintains a
list of 651 Bosnian Croats missing as the result of
the armed conflict with Bosnian Serb forces and another
list of 218 Bosnian Croats missing subsequent to the
fighting with the Government forces in 1993.

The State Commission of the Republika Srpska for the
Exchange of Prisoners of War and Missing Persons did not
provide the expert with a precise list of missing
persons. Its representatives claim, however, that more
than 2,000 Bosnian Serbs are still missing.

With these figures taken into consideration, the three
Bosnian parties are still in search of 30,000 missing
persons, the huge majority of whom (roughly 27,000, i.e.
90 per cent) are Bosnian Muslims while some
2,000 are Bosnian Serbs and fewer than 1,000 are Bosnian
Croats. There is, however, no doubt that the actual
number of missing persons is in fact significantly lower
than these official figures and that the lists include
persons, in particular soldiers, who are known to have
died in the armed conflict and whose families do not
consider them as missing. Furthermore, the cases that
have been clarified as the result of exhumations or that
have been erroneously included in the files of missing
persons have only partly been deleted. In
December 1996, representatives of the Bosnia and
Herzegovina State Commission indicated to the expert that
the actual number of missing Bosnian Muslims was between
23,000 and 24,000.

According to statistics provided by ICRC to the expert
on 27 September 1996, the number of
missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina registered in
accordance with official tracing requests submitted by
family members was 15,151, i.e. roughly half that alleged
by the parties. Of
these, 14,305 (94.4 per cent) are men
and 846 (5.6 per cent) women;
12,713 (83.9 per cent) are Bosnians of
Muslim origin, 1,798 (11.9 per cent) Bosnians
of Serb origin, 489 (3.21 per cent) Bosnians of
Croat origin and the rest of Montenegrin, Macedonian and
other origins. A total of 8,506 missing persons
(56.1 per cent) are civilians and 6,645
(43.9 per cent) military. The great majority
(10,413 persons, i.e. 69 per cent) are between
20 and 50 years of age, but 36 children below 10 years of
age and 63 elderly persons of more than 80 years are also
among those reported missing.

The ICRC figures seem to be more accurate than those of
the Bosnian parties since they are exclusively based on
individual family tracing requests which are
cross-checked by the ICRC officials. On the other hand,
the ICRC campaign, which started in June 1996, has not
yet been terminated and during the meeting of the ICRC
Working Group on Missing Persons of 13 December 1996, the
deadline for submitting tracing requests had to be
extended. In fact, the process of opening new family
tracing requests has not slowed down in recent months and
will probably continue at the same pace in 1997. This is
partly due to the fact that the ICRC started only in 1995
to systematically collect tracing requests, and that many
new requests date back to events that occurred in 1992.
Between 15 August and 27 September 1996, the total number
of tracing requests by families increased from 13,826 to
15,151 and between 27 September and 21 November 1996 it
rose to 15,992 requests. It can therefore be assumed that
the number of tracing requests will reach 20,000 during
the first semester of 1997. Moreover, there might be
genuine cases of missing persons on the official lists of
the Bosnian parties in which the families, for one reason
or other, are not able or no longer wish to file a
tracing request with the ICRC.

Taking into consideration all the information available
to the special process and provided by the Bosnian
parties, the ICRC and the associations of family members,
it can be concluded that not less than 20,000 persons are
still missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of whom more
than 90 per cent are men and between
80 per cent and 90 per cent of whom
are Bosnians of Muslim origin. The Bosnian Serb forces
are allegedly responsible for the disappearance of the
great majority of the cases (between
80 per cent and 90 per cent). With
respect to the information concerning the percentage of
cases of disappearance of civilians and combatants, the
figures provided by the sources vary significantly.
However, it is beyond doubt that the overall majority of
the missing persons are civilians. This categorization is
an important indicator of the root causes of the
phenomenon of disappearances in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
While the majority of missing Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian
Croats seem to be soldiers who were allegedly killed
and/or disappeared in the course of the various
conflicts, the situation is different with respect to the
Bosnians of Muslim origin. According to the governmental
figures, about half of the victims for whose
disappearance the Bosnian Croat forces are allegedly
responsible are soldiers. However, 90 per cent
of the victims for whose disappearance the Bosnian Serb
forces are allegedly responsible are civilians. This
significant difference indicates that most of the missing
Bosnian Muslims were not victims of armed combat but of
"ethnic cleansing" operations carried out by
the Bosnian Serb forces against the Muslim civilian
population.

Out of a total of 13,826 family requests collected by the
ICRC as of 15 August 1996, the majority of
7,733 disappearances (56 per cent) allegedly
occurred in 1995 (6,260 in July only), primarily in the
districts of Srebrenica (2,813), Bratunac (2,658) and
Zvornik (596). Other disappearances in 1995 were reported
from the districts of Sanski Most (181),
Zavidovici (167), Vlasenica (161), Mrkonjic Grad
(117), Glamoc (110), Rogatica (94), Bosanski
Petrovac (74), Drvar (73), Bihac (70), Kljuc (66) and Mt.
Ozren (60). In 1992 5,301 cases of disappearances
(38 per cent) allegedly occurred (in particular
between May and July) in the districts of
Zvornik (950), Prijedor (556), Vlasenica (502),
Sarajevo (383), Foca (334), Visegrad (251), Bratunac
(243), Kotor Varos (159), Rogatica (148),
Bihac (124), Kljuc (115) and Srebrenica (101). In
1993 570 cases of disappearances (4 per cent)
allegedly occurred, most of them in Mostar (69),
Vlasenica (53), Prozor (47) and Srbrenica (41). In 1994
212 cases (less than 1.5 per cent) allegedly
occurred, most of them in Srbrenica (25), Mostar (15),
Bihac (14), Sarajevo and Nevesinje (13 each).

These statistical data provided by the ICRC clearly
indicate different waves of disappearances which
correspond to other reliable information on the practice
of "ethnic cleansing" operations.

A first wave of disappearances occurred in eastern Bosnia
between April and September 1992 in the context of
military attacks and "ethnic cleansing"
operations carried out by the JNA (Novi Sad Corps and
Uzice Corps) and Serb paramilitary forces (especially
Arkan's, Seselj's and the White Eagles) against the
Muslim population in cities and towns at the river Drina
(e.g. Zvornik, Visegrad, Foca) or close to it (e.g.
Bratunac, Rogatica, Srebrenica, Vlasenica). The figures
provided by the ICRC and the Bosnia and Herzegovina State
Commission on Missing Persons are not significantly
different. According to these figures, between 2,500 and
3,000 persons disappeared in eastern Bosnia in 1992,
mainly during May and June. The first disappearances were
reported in late March and April in Foca and Zvornik and
until the end of the year, on a regular basis, in
municipalities such as Vlasenica. Most of the persons who
disappeared were middle-aged men (members of the
political party SDA, intellectuals and businessmen) who
were taken to concentration camps, such as the company
"Novi izvor", and cultural centres
"Celopek" or "Drinjaca" in Zvornik,
the elementary school "Vuk Karadzic" in
Bratunac or the notorious camp "Susica" in
Vlasenica.

A second wave of disappearances occurred in Bosnian
Krajina (western Bosnia and Herzegovina) between May and
August 1992, most prominently in the region of Prijedor.
The political background is similar to the "ethnic
cleansing" operations conducted by the Bosnian Serb
forces in eastern Bosnia, but among the victims were also
Bosnian Croats, in particular members of the political
party HDZ and business and religious figures. The
military attack on the town of Prijedor began on 30 May
1992 and was immediately accompanied by mass killings,
disappearances and other methods of "ethnic
cleansing". The statistical data provided by the
Bosnia and Herzegovina State Commission on Missing
Persons concerning this region are more numerous than
those provided by the ICRC. While the ICRC has, for
example, only two cases of persons who disappeared in May
1992 in Kljuc among its tracing requests, the Bosnia and
Herzegovina State Commission reports about 275 missing
persons. Nevertheless, it is beyond dispute that
thousands of human beings, most of them Muslims,
disappeared in western Bosnia and Herzegovina during
these four months. Most were brought to one of the 31
concentration camps and prisons which were established by
the Bosnian Serb forces according to information provided
by the Bosnia and Herzegovina War Crimes Commission and
other sources. Most notorious were the concentration and
death camps at "Omarska",
"Trnopolje", "Manjaca", and
"Keraterm".

In Herzegovina, most of the disappearances occurred
during the summer of 1992 and the summer of 1993.
Although the figures provided by the ICRC, the Bosnia and
Herzegovina State Commission on Missing Persons and the
Croatian side of the Federation differ significantly, one
may draw the conclusion that the JNA and Bosnian Serb
forces were primarily responsible for the disappearance
of Bosnians of Muslim and Croat origin in 1992. A typical
example is the "ethnic cleansing" of the
non-Serb population in the municipality of Nevesinje in
June 1992, which resulted in 296 cases of missing persons
according to the State Commission of Bosnia and
Herzegovina figures and 32 cases of missing persons
according to the ICRC figures. In 1993, the Bosnian Croat
forces (HVO) are held to be primarily responsible for the
disappearance of Bosnian Muslims, in particular in
Mostar, Progor, Capljina and Stolac. Many of the missing
persons were reportedly last seen at the HVO
concentration camp "Heliodrom", a former
military gymnasium in Mostar.

While in 1994 only a relatively small number of
disappearances were reported, the last and most notorious
wave of disappearances occurred in eastern Bosnia after
the fall of the United Nations-declared "safe
areas" of Srebrenica and Zepa in July 1995.
According to the ICRC, in the month of July alone more
than 6,000 Bosnian Muslims disappeared from Srebrenica,
Bratunac, Zvornik, Vlasenica and Rogatica. Investigations
by various bodies, including the Office of the Prosecutor
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, show that the great majority of these missing
persons were victims of arbitrary executions and mass
killings by Bosnian Serb forces, and are buried in the
many mass graves located in this area. Until now,
however, only a very limited number of bodies have been
exhumed from these grave sites.

Analysis of the situation of the missing persons in
Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that the number
of registered and unclarified cases of disappearances is
among the highest in the world. The reasons for this
phenomenon are, however, still hotly disputed. While the
Serb authorities seem to argue that the missing are
merely a consequence of the armed conflict, others feel
that disappearances occurred as part of a planned
strategy in the context of "ethnic cleansing"
operations, in particular by the JNA and Serb
paramilitary groups.

Taking into account that the majority of missing persons
are civilians, that many of them were brought to
concentration camps where they were last seen, and that
the statistical data on the disappearances coincide with
reliable information on "ethnic cleansing"
operations, one can definitely establish a link between
the policy of "ethnic cleansing" and the
phenomenon of disappearances. This does not, however,
answer the question whether the acts of disappearances as
such were part of a planned strategy. If so, what were
the reasons for making people disappear? Are there
significant differences between acts committed by the
Serb, Croat and Muslim authorities? Are the reasons for
disappearances in Croatia similar to those in Bosnia and
Herzegovina? Can we speak at all about acts of enforced
disappearances as defined in the United Nations
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance?

These and other questions relating to the root causes and
precise circumstances of disappearances cannot easily be
answered on the basis of the tracing requests and similar
information available to the special process. Further
evidence must be collected from former missing persons
who have been released or who escaped, from alleged
perpetrators of disappearances, from witnesses and
families of missing persons and other sources of
information, including the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and intergovernmental,
governmental and non-governmental organizations in the
region. In order to assist the expert in this task, BIM,
with the financial support of the Government of the
Netherlands, in 1996 started a research project on the
phenomenon of disappearances. The final report on this
research project will not be available before July 1997,
but preliminary findings should be provided to the expert
for his next oral report to the Commission on Human
Rights in March 1997.

The year 1996 was crucial for the transition from war to
peace in the former Yugoslavia. The Dayton Peace
Agreement and the Basic Agreement on Eastern Slavonia,
together with Security Council resolutions 1022, 1031 and
1037 (1995), constitute a solid basis for achieving a
lasting and sustainable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Croatia. This solid basis consists of a sufficiently
strong international military presence in a clear link
between the military and civilian components of both
peace-keeping and peace-building operations. In
particular, all parties to the General Framework
Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina agreed that
"the observance of human rights and the protection
of refugees and displaced persons are of vital importance
in achieving a lasting peace" (art. VII). The
observance of human rights has two components:
institution-building for the protection of human rights
(in particular, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the Human Rights Commission for Bosnia
and Herzegovina) in the post-Dayton period based on the
direct applicability of the European Convention on Human
Rights, and the attempt to establish the truth, to
provide some justice, and to encourage a process of
reconciliation in dealing with the most serious and
systematic human rights violations of the pre-Dayton
period. The second task falls primarily on the ICTY and
all those who are mandated to clarify the fate and
whereabouts of missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Croatia.

The military aspects of both operations, entrusted to
IFOR and UNTAES, has no doubt been a success of the
international community. As the participants at the
London Peace Implementation Conference of 4 and
5 December 1996 concluded, "peace has
taken root: in 1996, no Bosnian has died in military
conflict". The same holds true for Croatia and other
parts of the former Yugoslavia. The expert is, however,
unable to share the same optimistic evaluation by the
Peace Implementation Council of the civilian
implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, in
particular of the achievements in the field of human
rights, democracy and the rule of law. In his opinion,
the international community has missed an important
chance to protect and enforce human rights in Bosnia and
Herzegovina during 1996. The people of Bosnia and
Herzegovina at present do not enjoy their right to
remain, their right to return, their right to live in
dignity without fear, or the basic political rights and
freedoms. While most indicted war criminals still live in
their countries, millions of refugees and displaced
persons are still forced to live away from their homes,
and tens of thousands of families of missing persons are
deprived of their right to know the truth about the fate
and whereabouts of their loved ones.

The reasons for the ongoing human rights violations are
twofold: a lack of political will by the parties to
comply with their human rights obligations, and the lack
of commitment by the international community to enforce
human rights against the will of local politicians, if
necessary by military force. From a military point of
view, it would have been within the mandate of IFOR, and
within its capabilities, to protect and enforce freedom
of movement, expression and assembly, to arrest indicted
war criminals, as well as to guard and demine mass grave
sites and to provide security for forensic experts who
exhume mortal remains for the purpose of identifying
missing persons. The reason for this failure were not
military or logistical constraints but the lack of
political will of the international community to make
full use of the right of IFOR to "fulfil its
supporting tasks" for the protection of human
rights, as spelled out in article VI (3) of annex 1-A of
the Dayton Peace Agreement. In this respect, UNTAES was
definitely more successful in establishing a clear link
between its military and civilian tasks.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, some 20,000 persons are still
missing. The great majority are Bosnian men of Muslim
origin who became victims of "ethnic cleansing"
operations carried out by the JNA, Serb paramilitary
groups and Bosnian Serb forces between May and September
1992 and after the fall of Srebrenica and Zepa in July
1995. Among the missing are also Bosnian Muslims, victims
of "ethnic cleansing" operations carried out by
Bosnian Croat forces during 1993 in Herzegovina, as well
as a limited number of combatants and civilians of all
three ethnic communities who disappeared as a result of
various armed conflicts between 1992 and 1995. Whether
systematic acts of enforced disappearance in the sense of
the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance occurred as a result of a planned
strategy still needs to be further investigated.

In the post-Dayton period, the search for the missing in
Bosnia and Herzegovina became a joint effort of the
parties to the Dayton Peace Agreement, the families of
missing persons, and a number of international
institutions, above all the ICRC, OHR and the
United Nations special process. Various
implementation and coordination bodies have been
established, such as the ICRC-chaired Working Group on
Missing Persons, the Expert Group on Exhumations and
Missing Persons, the Joint Forensic Expert Commission on
Exhumation, and the International Commission on Missing
Persons in the Former Yugoslavia. The actual results of
this multitude of mechanisms are, however, far from
encouraging. Only very few missing persons have been
found alive, and some hundreds of bodies were identified
after inter-party exhumations or exhumations carried out
by the parties on territory under their control. The
reasons for these shortcomings are manifold: a lack of
political will by all the parties to disclose
information; a continuing policy of reciprocity which
characterizes the negotiations between the parties (from
an exchange of prisoners of war to an exchange of mortal
remains); a lack of political, logistical, financial and
military support by the international community to the
humanitarian efforts of searching for the missing by all
means, including the exhumation of mortal remains; and a
lack of efficient coordination and division of labour
among the various international institutions involved.

In Croatia, some 5,000 persons are still missing. This
includes more than 2,500 Croatian civilians and
combatants who became victims of "ethnic
cleansing" operations by the JNA and Serb
paramilitary groups in late 1991, above all in Eastern
Slavonia; up to 1,000 JNA soldiers allegedly still
missing as a result of the armed conflict in 1991; and up
to 2,000 Croatian Serb civilians who allegedly
disappeared as a result of operations "Flash"
and "Storm" carried out by the Croatian Army in
May and August 1995. The information provided on missing
Serbs is, however, far less detailed and reliable than
the information available on missing Croats.

Owing to the continuing non-cooperative attitude of the
Government of the FRY towards the special process, the
contribution of the expert to the efforts of clarifying
the fate and whereabouts of the missing persons in
Croatia was very limited during the period under review.
Some modest progress was achieved by means of exhumations
carried out by the Croatian Government Commission for
Detained and Missing Persons in the former UNPAs West,
North and South, by ICTY exhumations in Ovcara and by
bilateral negotiations between the Republic of Croatia
and the FRY, with the assistance of ICRC, UNTAES and
others. The actual achievements are, however, not much
more encouraging than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
reasons for the shortcomings are similar.

The recent establishment, on the initiative of the
United States Government, of the International
Commission on Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia
(ICMP) is a welcome development since it comprises, for
the first time, high-level representatives of the FRY,
Croatia and all Bosnian parties in addition to a number
of well-known international personalities. It is the
continuing conviction of the expert, as stressed in his
last report to the Commission (E/CN.4/1996/36, para. 81),
that only a high-level multilateral commission which
comprises all relevant parties in the former Yugoslavia
and which enjoys the full support of the international
community will be in a position to exert sufficient
pressure on all authorities concerned to disclose the
relevant information and to proceed with the excavation
of mass graves. The ICMP will, however, only be
successful if it is able finally to link a solution to
the burning issue of missing persons to the overall peace
process, i.e. to the military components and to the
economic assistance for reconstruction and development.

The expert, once more, deeply regrets the uncooperative
and irresponsible attitude of the Government of the FRY
towards the problem of many thousands of missing persons
in the territory of the former Yugoslavia for whom it
bears the main responsibility under international law. He
reiterates his urgent request to the Government of the
FRY, which was supported in various resolutions of the
Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly, to
fully cooperate with the special process and to disclose
all information relating to the fate and whereabouts of
missing persons, whether alive or dead.

The Government of the Republic of Croatia is requested to
continue its cooperation with the special process and, in
particular, to disclose all information relating to
persons who disappeared as a result of operations
"Flash" and "Storm" and as a result
of actions for which the Croatian side of the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina is held responsible.

The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the
relevant authorities of the Republika Srpska, and the
Croatian and Muslim side of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina are requested to continue their cooperation
with the special process. In particular, all the
authorities should disclose all information on missing
persons and refrain from the policy of reciprocity in
respect of missing persons, whether alive or dead.
Furthermore, the Bosnian parties are requested to
continue their efforts to clarify the fate and
whereabouts of missing persons by means of exhumation,
and to provide forensic experts working for the other
parties or relevant international organizations with full
and unrestricted access to all grave sites on territory
under their control.

The expert wishes to remind all Governments in the former
Yugoslavia of their responsibilities under the
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance to fully investigate all reported
cases of enforced disappearance, to bring the
perpetrators to justice, and to provide the victims and
their families with adequate compensation.

The expert strongly recommends to IFOR and its successor
SFOR, as well as to the Governments making troops and
support available, to provide the special process, ICRC,
OHR and other international institutions concerned with
all the assistance necessary to carry out their mandates
aimed at clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing
persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. UNTAES is requested to
continue its support in this respect. In particular, all
suspected mass grave sites need to be guarded and
demined, and the forensic experts need to be provided
with full personal security and protection while exhuming
mortal remains in the field.

All international organizations and institutions involved
in the search for missing persons, and those providing
relevant support, are requested to better coordinate
their activities and to establish a clear division of
labour among themselves in order to avoid competition and
duplication of efforts. The expert wishes to encourage
the High Representative to make full use of his
coordination task and liaison function with IFOR (SFOR)
under annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement and, in
particular, to involve IFOR (SFOR) more actively in the
joint efforts of excavation of mass graves and exhumation
of mortal remains.

The international community is requested to pay more
attention to the problem of missing persons in the former
Yugoslavia, the solution of which is a major precondition
for achieving a lasting and sustainable peace in the
region. In particular, economic assistance for
reconstruction and development should be made conditional
on the willingness of all Governments and authorities
concerned to fully cooperate with the special process,
the ICRC, OHR, ICMP and other international institutions
involved, to disclose all information regarding missing
persons and to carry out exhumations. Furthermore, the
international community is urgently requested to provide
the necessary financial assistance for a comprehensive
programme of forensic activities.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights is requested to
continue providing assistance to the special process. In
this context, the expert wishes to stress the need for
the High Commissioner's field operation in the former
Yugoslavia to establish a focal point on missing persons
with the task of providing the special process with the
necessary assistance in terms of personnel and logistics,
of coordinating and facilitating the work of forensic
experts seconded by Governments, of monitoring
exhumations by the parties, of coordinating the
activities of the special process with those of other
international institutions in the field, and of preparing
and implementing a comprehensive programme of forensic
activities as envisaged in paragraph 34 of Commission
resolution 1996/71.

Finally, the expert wishes to request the Commission on
Human Rights, when considering the extension of the
mandate of the special process for another year, to
define this mandate as unambiguously as possible. In
particular, the special process should be entrusted to
prepare and to assume the overall responsibility for
implementing a comprehensive programme of forensic
activities, to investigate the root causes and
circumstances of the phenomenon of disappearances in the
former Yugoslavia, and to submit periodic reports to the
Commission and the General Assembly.

1. The first report is contained in document E/CN.4/1995/37
and the second in E/CN.4/1996/36.